P.E.P.?

James Smith jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM
Mon Aug 13 21:17:13 UTC 2007


All this about -pep- being antedated is news to me.


--- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> I ate Kellogg's Pep well into the 1950s.
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: P.E.P.?
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> During The War, there was a dry cereal named
> "Kellog's Pep." I also
> recall a C&W song with the verse:
>
> Shoutin' out, full o' _pep_
> Watch yo' step! Watch yo' step!
>
> Or something like that. I can't recall its date. It
> was some time
> between 1945 and 1955, as a WAG.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 8/10/07, David Borowitz wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: David Borowitz
> > Subject: Re: P.E.P.?
> >
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > On 8/10/07, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > Poster: ronbutters at AOL.COM
> > > Subject: P.E.P.?
> > >
> > >
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> > >
> > > I was amazed to see that the word "pep" is in
> use for a new commercial
> >
> > > product, much less one for erectile disfunction.
> I got a spam ad today wi=
> > th
> > > the folllowing testimonial";
> > >
> > > "I pleased how swiftly P.E.P. worked on my
> boyfriend, he can no way stop
> > > babbling about how hot he is having his new
> calibre, length, and libido!"
> > > Amelia B., Washington
> > >
> > > Is "pep" making a vernacular comeback? It also
> occurs to me that some
> > > Bulgarian scammer may have selected "pep" from a
> dctionary without really
> > > unbderstanding how dated it is?
> >
> >
> > This is pure speculation, but consider the target
> audience of erectile
> > dysfunction ads. Using a slang term from baby
> boomers' youth for that kind
> > of product could help recall their own younger,
> more vigorous days. (I say
> > this without being particularly confident that the
> timing matches up.)
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > (If Dennis or a,yone needs to see the full ad, I
> can forward it to
> > > individuals")
> > > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Dennis Preston
>
> > >
> > > Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:35:18
> > > To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] The earth v. Earth
> > >
> > >
> > > Colleagues,
> > >
> > > You all turn out to be right after all; I'm
> > > really slow to catch on, and this time it wasn't
> > > dialect pronunciation. It took me several
> > > milliseconds to correctly (re)process "American
> > > mfrs."
> > >
> > > dInIs
> > >
> > > PS: Was it a joke in the fist place? Are there
> > > other exciting stories about abbreviation
> > > ambiguity out there?
> > >
> > > >---------------------- Information from the
> mail
> > > >header -----------------------
> > > >Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > >Poster: sagehen
> > > >Subject: Re: The earth v. Earth
> > >
> > >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > -------
> > > >
> > > >>
> > > >>Of course, I'm abstracting away from the fact
> that any noun or
> > > >>adjective in English can be made proper and,
> therefore, require
> > > >>capitalization, as is the case with Tarzan's
> son, Boy. OTOH, cf,
> > > >>German, in which every noun is capitalized.
> There's nothing intrinsic
> > > >>about this sort of thing.
> > > >>
> > > >>-Wilson
> > > >~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > > >The fastidious French, on the other hand, honor
> a proper noun by removin=
> > g
> > > >its capital when it has become so
> well-incorporated into French life tha=
> > t
> > > >it is recognized as a fully-fledged French
> word. American mfrs, with
> > > their
> > > >jealous & zealous protection of their precious
> brand names might be
> > > >comforted by adopting the French attitude when
> some miscreant uses, e.g.=
> > ,
> > > >"kleenex" w/out cap or =C5.
> > > >AM
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>
> > > >
> > >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dennis R. Preston
> > > University Distinguished Professor
> > > Department of English
> > > Morrill Hall 15-C
> > > Michigan State University
> > > East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
> > >
> > >
>
------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > >
>
------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --=20
> > It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
> > -Tom Stoppard
> >
> > Borowitz
> >
> >
>
------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a
> strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
=== message truncated ===


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



____________________________________________________________________________________
Choose the right car based on your needs.  Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool.
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list